This invention relates to load skidding vehicles as, for example, vehicles having grapples thereon for skidding logs across the ground in timber harvesting operations.
In timber harvesting operations, it is often necessary to move logs over rough terrain from the point whereat they were felled to a distant point whereat they may be loaded on a vehicle, train, or the like, or conveyed by other means to a point of use.
In some cases, such movement has been accomplished simply by attaching the log to a vehicle which then drags the log over the ground to its destination. More frequently, the movement has been accomplished through the use of specialized vehicles having grapples which grasp and lift one end of the log prior to the log being skidded across the ground. Such vehicles with grapples have worked well for their intended purposes. However, because the weight of the log is often substantial, and the point of engagement of the grapple with the log is outside of the periphery of the vehicle frame, that part of the ground engaging means of the vehicle nearest to the log is considerably more heavily loaded than the part of the ground engaging means remote from the log. As a consequence, particularly when the vehicle is being operated over rough terrain, there exists the possibility of overloading parts of the vehicle due to the unequal weight distribution as well as the possibility that an unstable vehicle condition may be generated.